


Visiting Florence - Part II

by ObstinaReed



Series: Wessa Honeymoon Stories [6]
Category: Florence + the Machine, Infernal Devices Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: F/M, Florence + The Machine - Freeform, Florence - Freeform, Wessa, Wessa honeymoon stories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-10
Updated: 2013-08-10
Packaged: 2017-12-23 01:10:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/920218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ObstinaReed/pseuds/ObstinaReed
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Era:: Victorian.<br/>Characters:: William Herondale and Theresa Gray, James Carstairs and Cecily Herondale, Magnus Bane -- belong to The Infernal Devices series by Cassandra Clare; Ernest the DuckDuke belongs to me.<br/>Author:: Ms. Reed.<br/>Summary:: After everything William Herondale had done for the Clave and Silent Brothers, a long relief from his Shadowhunter-duties was the least they could do to thank him. Such freedom enabled him and his newly wedded wife Theresa Gray to travel the world for three months and enjoy their honeymoon to the fullest.<br/>If only the ducks weren't following them everywhere.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Visiting Florence - Part II

**Author's Note:**

> {One paragraph near the end is mostly Florence + the Machine lyrics edited for Will and Tessa}

**"Dress up nicely, darling wife, because I am taking you out!"** William Herondale announced cheerfully after Tessa and he were clean and dry once more, and dressed in soft, cotton clothes. She was wearing Will's shirt, and was seated comfortably in a red velvety armchair across from him, that stood next to a large, stone fireplace which loomed there fireless, all dark and silent, as it was April and a pretty warm day at that.

Tessa took a sip of her tea. "Is that my surprise?" she asked excitedly. "Where are we going?"

"Ah," said Will, "it wouldn't be a surprise if I told you that, now, would it?" He grinned mischievously.

Tessa looked exasperated, but said nothing.

"Come now, dear Tess, hurry with your tea. I'm sure you are impatient to see what I have planned for you as much as I am to show it to you," Will said after a minute or two of quiet sipping of the aforementioned beverage.

Half an hour later, when they were dressed appropriately for an evening out in society, Mr. and Mrs. Herondale stepped out into the great green front yard of the Florence Institute. A faint breeze whisked the lush scent of flowers to them, causing Tessa's head to spin with sweetness. She smiled in delight.

When they first stepped out of the carriage upon their arrival, and went through the enormous front gate of the Florence Institute, Tessa was rendered speechless. She was used to seeing Shadowhunters' gardens well taken care of and more opulent than many mundane ones, but this was a whole new level of green perfection! Cutting through the green were neatly arranged patches of small yellow and light gray, red and blue, orange and purple flowers lining the path all the way back to the black and golden gate on one end, and reaching the stone steps of the Institute on the other. Tall and slender trees were standing gracefully next to the gate-walls, a sort of living guards -- swaying gently back and forth to the song of wind. There were a couple of lonely trees as well, strategically planted throughout the yard to provide a shade on a hot summer day, bending and stretching above the wooden benches. Across from one of those benches stood a middle-sized fountain with a circular base representing a pond; at its centre rose a figure of an Angel, complete with wings, made of white marble and holding a sword from which the water ran down in small trickles. All of this seemed to Tessa like a scene from one of her beloved books.

And there, strutting about the fake lake, were the ducks. Tessa had seen Will flinch when he noticed them.

"There!" he had shouted, "I cannot believe this. Bloody thing won't leave me be," he had muttered to himself.

"Pardon me?", Tessa had asked, nonplussed.

"The DuckDuke Ernest has followed us again," Will had explained and slumped his shoulders.

"Oh, dear. Whatever shall we do?" Tessa had teased, hiding a smile. She had come nearer to Will and put her hand on the back of his neck. He turned slightly and they kissed. The kiss was sweet, sunny and tasted of spring, if spring tasted of anything.

"Tessa?" Will was calling to her now, bringing her out of her reverie and back to the present. "Are you alright, darling Tess?"

"Yes, why do you ask?" Tessa blinked at him, frowning, as the sun stood directly behind him and shone brightly into her eyes, temporarily blinding her.

"Because I asked you a question. Twice. And you completely ignored me. And we all know I am too charming to be that casually ignored," Will said with a smirk.

"Sorry, what was the question?" Tessa asked turning around so that she could see his profile, rather than his silhouette, darkened by the sunlight behind him. Will had such a beautiful profile. She watched the lovely lines of his face that curved gently to shape his high cheekbones, his straight nose and full mouth, slightly opened now as he spoke; long, dark eyelashes that touched his face gracefully as he blinked; he turned his head following Tessa's movement and she was swallowed in the gorgeous, deep blue of his eyes.

"The question," said Will in a low voice, "was whether you wanted to walk, at least part way, toward our destination before getting into the carriage, for the evening is rather warm and pleasant and full of mysteries that might be much more thoroughly observed on foot than from the window of our dear clarence."

"I do," Tessa said, and smiled. She took him by the hand and they set off down the path toward the Institute gate.

∞z∞

"Benvenuta, signora Herondale," a short, plump man, dressed in formal attire greeted Tessa cordially, as he showed her into the darkened hall of the huge Renaissance palace in front of which her husband and she had abandoned their carriage a moment earlier. The building was impressive, wide and square and brown, with stone masonry that was a mixture of rustication and ashlar. The man bowed in a way of a greeting and Tessa noticed a balding patch of skin at the top of his head, spreading among remains of surrounding ginger hair. She smiled kindly at the man and passed him, entering the room.

"Palazzo Medici Riccardi," Will announced.

"We are here for the library, are we not?" Tessa asked.

"Biblioteca Riccardiana. Yes, indeed, we are. But," Will continued, "we are not here to _explore_ the library." Tessa made a face and Will added hastily, "We may do that, of course, but I mean to say, that is not the main reason I brought you here this evening. That is not the surprise."

"Then what _is_ the surprise, William? Are you ever going to tell me?" Tessa enquired.

"This," he said gesturing for Tessa to pass through the double doors to the next room. An orange light was flickering through them, and as she stepped closer, Tessa thought of all the lovely, warm colours of sunset. The room was full of candles, positioned carefully to illuminate every corner, romantic incandescence of their glass casings bathing the space in light and showing it to the best advantage. There was a tall window on one side of the room, a plain white curtain pulled over it, and a smaller one high above, on the ceiling. And what a ceiling that was! Covered with marble ornaments etched with gold, with writings and paintings, and sculpted baby angels made of same white marble as was the fountain of the Florence Institute. In the centre of the room stood a dining table, overlaid with fine and smooth linen, shiny silverware neatly arranged on top.

 Will pulled out a chair for Tessa. She sat, and he ensconced himself opposite her, a broad grin brightening his face, his dark blue eyes glowing in the candlelight.

"And now," he said, "for the specialty of the evening: what would you like to eat?"

"What is being offered?" Tessa asked.

"Say a word, and I will have it brought to you on a silver platter."

"By the Angel, Will, what have you done?" Tessa was astonished, amused and impressed, all at the same time.

"I have not done anything. All the incredibly hard work of cooking, all the chopping and peeling and cutting and measuring and mixing and stirring, all that is Luisa's doing, and she is to be congratulated for it."

"Luisa?" Tessa blinked in confusion.

"Our cook. At the Florence Institute," explained Will and continued, "Marvellous woman. Stout. Funny. Brave. Motherly. Reminds me of our dear old Agatha, God rest her soul."

"Oh, poor woman! How am I supposed to choose now? I don't even know what sort of foods or how many courses she'd prepared! I wouldn't want to offend her after she'd gone through all that trouble because of me."

"Oh, don't worry yourself, she went through all that trouble because of _ME_ , not you. That is, I asked her to do it as a favour, and she was most happy to oblige. She is very romantic, you see. Was all smiles and tears when she heard what I was planning to do. Better watch yourself, if you taste something very salty tonight, those are probably Luisa's tears, that's her secret ingredient." Will's beautiful face grew serious.  "I shall make sure she receives a proper thanks, of course."

"Will, I... I don't know what to say."

"Well, to begin with, you could say what you wanted for dinner." Mischievous grin was back on his face. "I am quite hungry and gradually gravitating towards 'ravenous'. Any time now is fine with me."

And so they ate. Tessa decided she wanted to see and try a bit of everything Luisa had carefully and lovingly prepared for them. She even tasted a chocolate cake, out of respect for Luisa. That one was probably made for Will, because he knew Tessa hated chocolate and would have notified the cook, but she still wanted to try it. The cake wasn't at all that bad; Tessa liked that the cream was sort of bitter, but it was chocolate nevertheless, and chocolate was awful. She was quite satisfied with a single bite and moved on to the next delight in the line of dessert.

Will watched her with a mixture of amazement and tenderness in his expression, his blue eyes dancing up and down from her to the food, and back. He ate whatever Tessa would pick and whispered sweet nothings to her between the mouthfuls. And through all that, they were surrounded by books. The whole experience was unbelievable, dreamlike really.

Tessa was brought up short as Will started salting her hands. "Why are you covering me with salt?" she asked, perplexed.

"Because you are impossibly sweet. Something must be done about it."

She laughed at that, a wholehearted laugh. "Oh, Will. My crazy, wonderful Will!" She gave him a peck on the lips as they went on trying out the food.

After about half an hour of this, Will spoke again: "I cannot stand here any longer, Tess.  This is serious. All this food is wasted on me. I'm going to tell Luisa. This will not do. Whatever I eat, it does not help. It does not satisfy my hunger." He lowered his voice and exhaled slowly into her ear. "I am still incredibly hungry for you. God, Tess, what are you doing to me?"

Passion and desire were almost palpable in his voice. Tessa became all shivers and hard breathing. "I think it's time we retired to our room," she managed weakly. "Dinner was lovely, but we should go home."

Their gazes met and a thousand silent words passed between them.

Moments later a loud "Quack!" interrupted their staring contest. Will jumped up and looked away from Tessa, searching the library for intruders. Alas, his efforts were in vain, for he could not see anything in the dim lighting except Tessa, food, books, candles and shadowy corners.

∞z∞

When Mr. and Mrs. Herondale got back to the Florence Institute that evening, they barely managed closing the doors of their chamber before they were on each other, undressing impatiently whilst kissing fiercely. They resembled a huge tangle of arms and legs as they fell on the bed, still fighting to remove what little of the clothes was left between them. Tessa was desperately kissing every part of Will's skin she could find, loving the vulnerability, savouring every touch. She wanted, she _needed_ to feel his skin on her skin that instant, and so badly that she trembled all over, pulling harder on his unbuttoned shirt until it was at last completely off and she was able to run her hands all over his smooth, white, gorgeous chest and back.

Will wasn't any better. He kept pausing between deep, hot kisses to bring his lips closer to her ear and tell her in ragged whispers how beautiful she was, or how mad and wild she made him. His hands were travelling slowly across Tessa's body, exploring, staying in certain places a little while longer, teasing, leaving her skin tingling everywhere he touched her, leaving Tessa aching for more.

She felt Will's hand moving up the inner side of her thigh and gasped. Will's other hand was on Tessa's neck and cheek and he moved it toward her mouth, drawing their shape with his thumb, his thick dark lashes hiding his eyes that were set intently upon the motion, before he kissed her.

"Never let me go," Tessa said softly, later when she and Will sat on the balcony, stargazing. She had rested her head on Will's shoulder and their hands were intertwined. Tessa's voice was so small it could have been the sound of the wind, that breath that passed from her to Will. It flew between them and she slept. And the arms of her ocean were carrying her and utter devotion was rushing out of her; it was peaceful in the deep, there was no need to speak.

A perfect ending of a perfect day and one more detail to be added to imaginary book of most precious memories.

 


End file.
